Literary Dog Names

Vilgefortz is a character from The Witcher series -- one as unappealing as his name.

An admirable quality to impart; Pleasant was used by Charles Dickens in Our Mutual Friend and in modern times is known via American Girl dolls creator Pleasant Rowland.

The Alhambra, which means "red city," is in Granada, Spain. British writer Ali Smith used it for a character in her novel The Accidental.

Alabama is a hot southern place-name, picking up from Georgia and Savannah. This is not a geographical name come lately, though--there have been girls named Alabama dating back well over a century.

The spelling Woolf inevitably conjures writer Virginia. If you're a fan of Mrs. Dalloway and the Bloomsbury group, Woolf might be a creative way to combine a trendy animal name with an original honor name. Woolf was the surname of Virginia's husband, Leonard.

Shows some promise via its connection to the growing interest in Ewan.

Cool and casual, a la humorist Ring (born Ringgold. ) Lardner.

Lionel is yet another traditional boy's name entering the girls' column--at least once-- via prizewinning novelist Lionel (born Margaret Ann) Shriver.

The surname of father-son British writers Kingsley and Martin could work very well as a first, though its Amy connection makes it sound a tad feminine.

Nenna is the name of the heroine of Penelope Fitzgerald's novel Offshore, but it's also sparingly used in Scandinavia as a variant of the name Nanna. Nanna is a diminutive of various names, including Anna, Johanna and Marianne, but it's also a name in its own right, possibly meaning "daring".

Unusual Italian name for boys that relates both to the vividly stylish Viv names such as Vivienne and Viveca, and to the Italian musician Vivaldi.

Remarkable Pettibone was a self-important housekeeper in James Fenimore Cooper's The Pioneers. Such names were not uncommon in early America, with such choices as Remember and Experience showing up in the records along with Puritan virtue names such as Chastity and Patience.

The mixed-race heroine of one of Gertrude Stein's Three Lives searches for knowledge and power.

Fringilla Vigo is a sorceress and villain in The Witcher series. Her name comes from a genus of singing finches.